Rock and ore crushing mill



Feb. 19 1924. 1,483,932

. O. A.. ELLIS ROCK AND ORE CRUSHING MILL Original Filed Oct. 9, 1917 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 19, 1924. 1 1,483,932

= .o. A. ELLIS v ROCK AND ORE CRUSHING MILL Original Filed Oct. 9, 1917 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l/WENTUR Patented Feb. is, 1924.

" NI E 'PATENT'Q OF FICE;

Application filed ot'uiber 9, 1917, Serial no. leases. ltenewe'd Julia s 1923.-

i or BOSTON, mAssAeH-Usmrs.

senile, assrsnon'ra a; stirs. 1

- secs Ann 01m cn-UsHiNG hm.

- To, all whom it mag concerns I Be it known; that I; OseAii ANDREW time, a citizen of the United States; and .a, resident of the City and county of San Fran cisjco, State of California; have invented se tain new and nsefn'Llmprovements' in Rock and h ng Mills,- of which theio'l lowing is a specification. I l 1 The invention relates to and more particularly to mills oft-he ball One of the leading objects of the inventioh is to; provide; a mill of this character from which all shafts journals; bearings and gearing have been eliminated thereby reducing frictionand wear toa minimum. Another object is to provide a inill' which shallhave' improved; crushing qualities and in which the balls are caused to rotate so that they wear evenly in all directions; thu's preserving their spherical sha'pe. Another object is to so construct a. mill of this' ch'aracter that the balls are free torideover or around any piece of material too largev or too hard to be entirely crushed at the first impact: By virtue of this arrangemeiitthe necessity for breaking the material into exceedingly small lumps before feeding it to the mill isobviated. I i A still further object is'to' improve construction the and proportion of the balls themselvesyso as to secure greater elficiency asgWell aslncreased ease of transportation. Other advantages and improved details-of construction will appear description.

.Inorder that. thejinvention may be clearly understood, reference'is had to'the' accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificatiom and in; which;

Fig. .4 is a sectional elevation the; balls;-

Fig. 5 is'a of one (if fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the lining of the'trough or runway";

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary invertecllplan view, showing the bottom of such lim ng;

and

Fig. 7 is a plan View on a reduced scale,

from the following ;1

showing th ,'.,metl10d ,of transportilii l tlie ball hyrollfi igflthi ntng'th aa Referring to ngraving in detaiLtlie one side toconstitnte a discharge. .a s sho wn in Figg 2'. round ng the floor 1Ov is a vertical/retaining .9", which states ,0 the rent dating, insicle' Denis wane. is an runway. This on which re's'tsa,..S1i e line 1? clearly shown sections being: the joints ,16

inFigs'. 1' nd 2,111; base 16 plate 2 is formed ins'ections, two of such shown and '[bei ng' panned by means I of internally and externally ro ecting radia l flanges igan 11, respectively throngh which pass suitable bolts.

The liner 17 sections and is .75 i also. pi -seat n securedv in position on the lied plate2 by means-ofholts having. taper ng heads which countersunk recesses 15, adjacentthe edges ofthe liner. v

As bothjbed p1; t8 and m e th avr st el ia liireq iifily 1 have a more or lessrough surface, it 1s very desirable to ovidsmeaasrq sensing;- the 85 liner tosat firmly and solidlyupoii the plate. This, may he accomplished placing a piece of the liner and preferred on the botto n' ping strips 18;

the like, and sated for.

A series c eaves i: the like between base 151m, but, as shown, means; consists s pid viiain the liner. alse i'ji s I Where any high. Offcur'in the bed plate thiscliippiniif' strip may e yg' eeii 9 1- .ehis. ,1 thus the ir iiegiilarity tamperi- 0 hallsl are tail-peasant in e i i inga T hollow so that they can heof'relatively large size without being; excessively heavy. D ialm r ally OPP in these, balls,

er y lined wit mal ea le mte sl ve y 23, so as; to prevent .c-hipp ngj ofjthe edges ese halls are pref erably made osed openings 22 are foi ineii d, t ese pen ngs: are. p ef.-

of? the p n s hen; ni .ih PPQ ings are; closed by n' eans. oi screw+threade l plugs, 24],, terminating flush w th the stir- 1 face} of theb'all.

' The primary oh-ject'of t'heopeniiigs'ini the m a iii tionally shown in Figure 7, in which 25.

designates the rod passing through the openings in the ball and held at its ends in a suitable frame 26 to which a chain 27, or

any other preferredh'aulage means,vmay be attached. a p Rest'ing'freely upon'the series of balls 1 is, a'saddle ll This saddle is mounted without any shaft, or guiding or centering means whatsoever, and is capable of both vertical and lateral movement. "Thesaddle is also preferably formed sections connected by flanged joints 12 in a manner similar to the bed plateQ. In order to rotate the saddle, I provide a belt pulley 5 of relatively large size, the lower edge of which is secured tothe'top ofthe' saddle, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. A belt 6, from any suitable' source of power. passes around the pulley 5 to drive the same.

Supported by. the saddle, inside of the pulley, is a table or platform-21,'on which suitable weights may be placed to give the desired crushingpressure to the balls. A

feed hopper and chute 19 extend down through the middle of the pulley 5 and terminate at apoint below the table 21, at the center of the annular runway.

Secured tothe'upper edge of the pulley 5 is a suitable bracket 13,"which may have any one "of a' number of different shapes and whiclris designed to engage the trip arm or other operating part of any desired feed mechanism' (not shown). "It will be understood that asthe pulley 5 revolves, this bracket 13 travels in a circular path and periodically actuates the feed mechanism, causing it to deliver the material to be ground into the chute 19. f

Surrounding the base plate 2 a circular flaring wall. 7, which contains the usual screens 8 through which the ground'material passes. v

Referring particularly to Fig. 3, one of the most important features of the invention resides in the'special shape given, to the upper surface of the liner 17. From an inspection 'of'the drawing, it will be seen that thecurvature of the outer portion "of this liner conforms closely to that of the ballsl, While on the'inside the curve is much flatter, being'preferably aplan'e sur face substantially tangential to the curvature of the balls. The under-surface of the saddle l is preferably formed in the same way, the outer portion thereof being shaped to closely hug the balls, while the inner por tion is flattened toa point approaching the tangential'relation. The result of this special construction is first, that the balls being held by centrifugal force to 'the'outside of directions.

messes the trough or runway press-closely against the outer side thereof and produce the finest crushing at this point. Secondly, the tangential surface of the runway forms with the balls an inwardly flaring throat adapt ed to receive the coarse material from the chute 19. Owing to the shape of the parts, it will be seen that the material Works grads ually outwardly and under the balls, be-

coming crushed more and more finely as it travels toward the outer periphery of the trough. The third important function of the special trough above described, is that it permits the balls to be laterally displaced and slightly deviated from their circular path in case an obstruction is encountered.

. This deviation is also 'made possible by the fact that the saddle'runway 'ispre ferably shaped similar to the bed runway and by the further fact that bothrun'ways are relatively shallow, their edges terminating, at points wellremovedfrom the plane of the ball centers. By virtuewof thisconstruction, the saddle is free to move laterally as well as vertically. A further result of the balls being thus deviated from their course is that they are thereby given a movement of rotation about a more or less verticalaxis, thus shiftingthe position of the'balls and causing them to continue their normal course with a different zone presented to the trough. In this way the ballsare caused to wear equally in all directions and to preserve their spherical shape.

' It will thus be seen that'I have provided a ball mill'inwhich both the balls and-saddle are free to move laterally so as to ride over obstructions, while, at the same time, the design of the trough insures thematerial being ground to the finest condition at the point of discharge from the outer periphery thereof, and it is thought that the many advantages of my improved construction. will be readily appreciated without ufurther discusslon.

That I claim is:

1.'A crushing mill comprising an annul'ar trough or runway, a series of balls rolling in said runway, the'inner portion of said runway-having a surface substantially tangential'to that of the balls, and a saddle resting on said balls and held in position wholly thereby, said saddle being entirely free to move laterally in substantially all 2. A crushing mill comprising an annular trough orrunway, a series of balls roll- Y ing in said. runway,-the outer portion of said runway being of a curvature confornr ing substantially 'tothat of the balls, and the inner portion of said runway being fiattened into a curve of greater radius, and a. saddle resting onsaid balls, said saddle be ing entirely free to move laterally in substantially all directions. v

3. A crushing mill comprising a bed and a saddle, and a series of balls interposed between them, both said bed and saddle having an annular trough or runway in which such balls roll, a portion of the runway in both bed and saddle being of a curvature substantially conforming to that of the balls, and a portion being flattened into a surface approximately tangential to that of the balls, said saddle being free to move laterally in substantially all directions.

4.. A crushing mill comprising an annular trough or runway, a series of balls rolling in said runway, the outer portion of said runway being of a curvature conforming substantially to that of the balls, and the inner portion being flattened into a surface approximately tangential to that of the balls, thereby permitting lateral displacement of the balls in said runway, and a saddle freely resting on said" balls, in COIIlblnation with means for rotating said saddle, such means comprising a belt pulley secured directly to and supported wholly by said saddle.

5. A crushing mill comprising a bed and a saddle, and a series of balls interposed between them, both said bed and saddle having a relatively shallow annular trough or runway in which said balls roll, the edges of said troughs terminating respectively well below and above the center of the balls, the outer portion of both the bed and saddle troughs or runways being of a curvature substantially conforming to that of the balls, and the inner portion of the bed run way being flattened into a surface approximately tangential to that of the balls, whereby said saddle and balls are capable of lateral displacement relative to the bed, and means for rotating said saddle, such means comprising a belt pulley secured directly and rigidly tosaid saddle.

6. A crushing mill comprising an annular trough or runway, a series of balls rolling in said runway, the outer portion of said runway being of a curvature conforming to that of the balls, and the inner portion of said runway being flattened into a curve of greater radius, and a, saddle resting on said balls and controlled wholly thereby, said saddle being entirely unrestrained and free to move in all directions.

7. A crushing-mill comprising a comparatively shallow trough or runway, a series of balls rolling in said runway, the middle and outer portions of said runway being of a curvature conforming to that of the balls, and the inner portion of said runway having a surface substantially tangential to the a saddle, and a series of balls interposed be- I tween them, both said bed and saddle having an annular trough or runway in which such balls roll, the outer portion of the runway in both bed and saddle being of a curvature conforming to that of the balls, and the in:

ner portion being flattened into a surface substantially tangential to the balls, said saddle being free to move laterally except as controlled by said balls.

9, A crushing mill comprisin an annular trough, a series of balls rolling in said trough, a. saddle resting on said balls, a belt pulley secured at its edge to said saddle, a

platform supported by said saddle, said pul ley and platform constituting a ha a:

chamber, and a feed chute extending down a through said pulley, ballast chamber and platform and arranged to deliver material to be crushed at the center of said annular trough.

10. A crushing mill comprising an annular trough, a series ofballs rolling. in said trough, a saddle resting on said balls, a pulley attached at its edge to said saddle, a delivery chute extending down through said I I pulley, and an actuating device for feed mechanism carried by said pulley.

11. A crushlng mill comprising an annular trough, a series of balls rolling in said trough, a saddle resting on said balls, a pulley attached at its edge to said saddle, a delivery chute extending down through said pulley, and an actuating device for feed mechanism comprising a bracket secured to the upper edge of said pulley.

12. The combination with a hollowcastmetal crushing ball having a pair of diametrically opposed openings: therein, of a rod adapted to bepassed through said openings to form an axis about which the ball may turn when being transported by rolling along the ground, and a'pair of removable plugs adapted to close said openings when the ball is used for crushing, said plugs ter minating substantially flush with. the extck rior of the ball, whereby a smooth crushing surface is provided. a

In testimony whereof, I hereunto set my hand at San Francisco, California, this 29th day of September, A. D. 1917.

OSCAR ANDREW ELLIS.

Witnesses:

G. W.- ,EASTIN, K. T. MoDo NELL. 

